Archive for the 'Ucla' Tag Under 'UCLA' Category

According to an article by the Contra Costa Times, ESPN basketball analyst and former UCLA basketball player Sean Farnham has started a foundation, Hoops From Home, which has been designed in part to bring basketball camps to youths who live on military bases.

The organization will also focus on helping kids from military-based families overcome any social or behavioral issues.

Hoops From Home will be holding its first camp, which will feature many NBA stars and college players, on Aug. 11 at Camp Pendleton.

Also in the article, Dave Gorman, a Hoops From Home board member, explained the importance of the first camp.

The days continue to wind down as national letter-of-intent day (Feb. 3) approaches. This weekend could be a big one for both USC and UCLA as many recruiting prospects will be visiting the respective campuses.

Here's some of the stories we have on football recruiting heading into the weekend:

Former UCLA first baseman Cody Decker was selected as the Arizona League Player of the Year by Topps and Minor League Baseball.

Decker led the the Arizona league with 15 home runs, 63 RBIs, 21 doubles and 39 extra-base hits. He also topped the league with a .717 slugging percentage.

A 22nd-round selection of the San Diego Padres in the Major League Baseball's entry draft this past June, Decker led the Pac-10 with 21 home runs in 2009, and had a career batting average at UCLA of .288. He finished his collegiate career with 47 home runs, putting him in a tie for seventh place on the Bruins' all-time list.

Here's an early look at Villanova, UCLA's opponent in Saturday's NCAA East regional second round game.

Last game: The Wildcats overcame a 14-point deficit against American with a 19-2 second half run to secure an 80-67 victory Thursday in Philadelphia. Center Dante Cunningham and forward Dwayne Anderson both finished with 25 points.

The record: 27-7

Series history: UCLA leads the series 2-1. Villanova won the teams' last game 58-57 in 2002. The Bruins and Wildcats met in the 1971 national championship game, John Wooden's Bruins prevailing 68-62 for the fifth of seven consecutive NCAA titles.

With seemingly everyone outside the 310 including President Obama predicting a Virginia Commonwealth upset of UCLA tonight in the NCAA East regional first round it's apparently time to consider the Bruins' all-time opening round disasters.

Was it the disaster against Princeton in the 1996 first round when the Ivy Leaguers schooled the defending national champions 43-41?

Or how about losing to Tubby Smith and Tulsa in a 112-102 track meet (and a battle of future Georgia coaches) two years earlier?

Or getting stomped by Danny Ainge and Brigham Young 78-55 in the 1981 tournament's second round, the Bruins' first game, after reaching the national title game the year before. Last time we checked Ainge was still hitting jumpers against the Bruins. Two years later UCLA, ranked No. 1 for four mid-season weeks, lost to Utah 67-61.

Much has been made this week about UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow and USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian meeting for the first time Saturday since they worked together at USC and their apparently strained relationship.

But Chow, a longtime assistant at Brigham Young, and Sarkisian, who played quarterback at BYU under Chow, are also battling on another familiar turf--Utah's recruiting trails.

One of their prime targets is John Martinez, a highly touted offensive lineman out of Salt Lake City's Cottonwood High School. Martinez visited USC last weekend and is one of five high profile recruits making official visits to UCLA starting Friday.

Martinez is 6-feet-4, 275 pounds and reportedly has been clocked at 4.88 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Besides the Bruins and Trojans he is also considering BYU and LSU. He has already dropped Ohio State from his list of potential schools.

The Bruins and Trojans are also going head-to-head for another top prospect visiting Westwood this weekend, Chandler, Arizona receiver Markus Wheaton. Wheaton is 6-1, 170 with a 4.45 40. He has already visited Oregon and is also looking at California, Colorado and Nebraska.

"It's almost a duplicate of the Tennessee game, in the case of being down by four and coming down the field at the end. It's got to be on par with that."

On considering replacing Kevin Craft:

"There was a point in the game where I did consider it, and sometimes it gets the better of me because I'm an old quarterback and on old quarterback coach. There are times when I see what is happening on defense, and I know what he should do as a quarterback and his eyes are on the other side or he's not seeing well, and I get emotional when that happens. I want him to focus on what takes place and answer why he didn't do what the play was called for. He is a coach's son--this isn't for TV. It's not personal. It's about getting him back in the present and knowing what is expected of him in each particular play. We had two seniors (at quarterback), and here he is being thrust into these high pressured situations-for our world-and he is responding. We've got to have each guy having their own personal and prive board meeting on how to execute. We work hard and the kids try. But with our execution, we've got to be more critical of ourselves so we don't stub our toes and have these things happen more often."

As impressive as UCLA's 11-play, 87-yard, 2:13 game-winning drive was, Stanford could have put the game if the Bruins hadn't finally stopped Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart on Stanford's next-to-last possession.

On first and 10 on the UCLA 20, Bruins defensive tackle Brigham Harwell held Gerhart, who had spent the day busting UCLA tackles, to three yards. Harwell then stopped Gerhart for no gain on the next play. Then after a Stanford time-out, UCLA defensive end Reginald Stokes grabbed Gerhart a yard short of the first down.

Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard, who suffered a concussion in last Saturday's victory against Arizona, will "likely" play against UCLA Saturday at the Rose Bowl, Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh said Tuesday morning.

Pritchard, the hero in Stanford's upset of USC last season, has a history of concussions.

"It was a mild one," Harbaugh said of Pritchard's most recent concussion. "He's going through his concussion protocol and is doing very well and I expect he'll get some practice today."